Chapter 20
"Human candidate? There are plenty of humans here."
Several thousand, at least.
But Ren, hearing his words, quietly shook her head.
"Different. Those are creatures that merely share a human-like form. A different species sharing only the same appearance."
"You're saying they're not human?"
This time, Ren nodded her head.
Looking at Yaan's face, her own showed not a trace of falsehood, not a shred of emotion.
"Then what am I? Are my parents actually descendants of the Ancients or something?"
"Your basic physical structure matches the creatures here. Glaepnir judged you to be human. Not me."
"Then why did that thing choose me?"
Yaan pressed further. The more he heard, the more questions seemed to pile up.
"The criteria defining a human vary by nation and manufacturer. Naturally, that child and I have different standards."
"In other words, you haven't acknowledged me as human yet."
"Judging. I'll decide after observing your actions."
"Haven't you seen enough already?"
Before his eyes was Ren, who could communicate with Glaepnir with just a touch.
She must have heard everything he'd done in battle, or during his ten years in the Penal Corps.
"Mutual acts of killing do not factor into humanity's judgment criteria. Especially when it isn't interspecies slaughter."
Which meant she didn't recognize the elves as people either.
"Then what's your standard? What do you use to decide whether I'm human or not?"
"The consensus of other artificial intelligences. That child was the first to point you out."
"You mean Nill? That thing chose me?"
As Yaan spoke, Ren shook her head again.
"Different. That child-"
Just as Ren was about to explain further-
"Corporal Yaan! Are you there? Starting tomorrow, I'll be your escort-"
Lieutenant Dandel burst through the tent flap. After so long, his face brightened as he spoke, then turned his gaze toward Yaan and Ren.
"...Huh?"
What entered his vision-
Yaan sitting on the bed in nothing but a shirt, coat removed, and Ren standing before him half-naked, wearing only underwear.
For a moment, Dandel froze dumbly, then immediately turned and bolted from the quarters.
"Terribly sorry! I'll come back later!"
If he had something to say, he should've said it. What was that about?
Thinking that, puzzled, it took Yaan a while to realize what state Ren was in.
"Ah."
***
"I really must apologize for earlier, Corporal Yaan!"
"No, that's... It's fine."
Night had fallen.
Yaan visited the infantry preparing for the night march and sighed at Dandel's apology.
Denying it would only deepen the misunderstanding. Changing the subject, Yaan asked why Dandel had come.
"Ah, I was hoping you might join this exploration mission. I've been looking for you."
Dandel said this while surveying the soldiers.
Among them, Yaan spotted a familiar hooded figure and frowned.
It was the half-elf he'd met that morning, Rael.
"Ah, Corporal Yaan. It's been a while."
"It's only been half a day."
"Who knows when we might never see each other again? That's the soldier's lot. Always long overdue."
Rael approached him with those words, then made the same request as Dandel.
"Is the forest so dangerous that the colossus needs an escort?"
"Not particularly, but His Highness has given orders. There's a wild elf village along the path to the ruins, and mediating alone is a bit much."
Rael said this, looking up at Glaepnir standing on the open ground.
At his gaze, filled with strange yearning, Yaan showed a puzzled expression, but it was fleeting.
"His Highness said to use the Frame freely, so how about accompanying me for night training?"
Behind Rael, Dandel nodded.
'Night training. Smooth words.'
Having already destroyed seven colossi alone in night battles, training was unnecessary, but his body was stiff from too much rest.
Even if he could operate freely, it was useless if his body couldn't keep up.
The more credit he earned, the better his chances of becoming a knight.
"Understood. Let's prepare."
Though reluctant about Rael's request, it wasn't a bad offer, so Yaan accepted.
[Good morning, Pilot. Glaepnir, system startup.]
"Already done."
[Testing joke protocol using time discrepancy with human federation standard time. Satisfied with result.]
"That was a joke just now?"
Whoooom-
Light poured from Glaepnir's shoulders as it slowly rose.
Clouds hid the moon, leaving the night pitch-black.
But Glaepnir, lit by maintenance yard lights and searchlights, shone clearly in the darkness.
"Corporal! Light this way!"
Dandel, ready to march, called out. Yaan lit a corner of the forest with the searchlight on his shoulder.
Other mechanized vehicles couldn't enter uncharted territory at night, but colossi had no problem.
Traversing swamps, brambles, and rough terrain was one of the advantages of a walking colossus.
"Squad Leader, ready!"
"Good. Move out!"
At Dandel's command, twenty soldiers entered the forest.
Glaepnir's searchlight began guiding them, lighting the way.
Thump.
Thump.
Birds, startled by the colossus's heavy footsteps, took flight.
The beasts of the forest vanished into the undergrowth, and the soldiers felt anew what the colossus truly was.
"Riding something like that, we must look like bugs."
"Think of the elves. They'd be lucky to be seen as bugs."
"Yeah, you're right."
They were soldiers who'd survived hellish trench warfare. They knew firsthand how terrifying the colossus beside them was.
"Hold! Village ahead!"
At Dandel's shout, the soldiers readied their weapons.
The wild elves might attack, wary of humans.
As expected, despite the late hour, lights flickered on throughout the village at Glaepnir's approach.
"Mana light."
"Hmm. At that level, we can suppress them without issue..."
Dandel pondered briefly.
The aversion to killing elves had long since vanished.
"No. Suppression won't be necessary."
At the hooded man's words, Dandel turned. A man wearing a necklace emblazoned with the 13th Prince's crest.
It was Rael.
"Unlike your side, we are human. When we arrived at the elf village last time..."
"That village originally cooperated with the Alfraian army. So when you arrived at the ruins, they immediately signaled the Elf Kingdom."
"So they weren't innocent civilians..."
"Who's innocent in war?"
Dandel's expression darkened at Rael's answer.
He had held a strong grudge against the brass for pinning war crimes on the Penal Corps, only to learn it had been a legitimate order.
"Well, the wholesale slaughter of even the children was unexpected, but that's their own karma."
"...You are rather harsh. Even though they are your kin."
"Ha, my kin?"
Rael snorted derisively and looked at Dandel's face.
"Ugh!?"
Those murderous eyes.
It felt as if he were seeing Yaan's eyes from atop that colossus; Dandel gasped.
"I have never once considered them my kin."
Half-elf.
In this era, fifty years had already passed since the all-out war between the human camp and the elf camp.
In a war where both sides fought to exterminate the other, what sort of life had those caught in the middle been forced to live?
"My apologies. That was an indiscretion."
"No. I understand. In any case, there's no need to subdue them. It is the Prince's will, and more importantly, Corporal Yaan is here."
Hearing Rael's words, Dandel showed doubt.
"Corporal Yaan? Why would he..."
"More precisely, thanks to the colossus he rides-the Creator's relic. Well, send it straight into the village and you'll see."
Lost in thought for a moment, Dandel then signaled the colossus Yaan rode, as though having made up his mind.
Whether the villagers resisted or not, he judged that a show of force was needed to control the residents near the ruin.
Grrrrr....
Having read the signal, Glaepnir slowly began to move toward the village.
A forest at midnight. Glaepnir advanced step by step through the densely packed trees.
The sight of the ashen colossus cutting through the night fog sent chills down any observer's spine.
[Elf group confirmed ahead. Count: 73.]
"Armed status?"
[Unconfirmed.]
Glaepnir had reached what looked like the village entrance. A group of elves had come out and were waiting for him.
"Seems they have no intent to attack..."
Whether they did not realize it was a human colossus or whether it was their first time seeing one, the elves crowded toward Glaepnir as it stopped in front of the entrance.
Thanks to the Prince's order, Yaan silently watched to see what they would do.
"Hm?"
"...What are they doing now?"
Yaan, studying the elves crowding around Glaepnir on his screen.
And Dandel, observing through binoculars, each spoke almost in unison with evident surprise.
"Creator, forgive our sins..."
"The harvest season draws near. May there be no trouble..."
"May the sons who went off to hunt return safely..."
One by one the elves knelt before Glaepnir, hands clasped, muttering something. They looked utterly reverent, as though the Creator they worshiped had appeared.
"Are they... praying? To the colossus?"
"Not just any colossus. Isn't it the Creator's colossus enshrined in the next village? A moving relic of the Creator, no less."
Rael's explanation made their behavior somewhat understandable. The Creator Church worshiped the Ancients known as the Creator.
Recalling the source of that faith, Dandel had no choice but to nod.
"Well, compared to the Church it's a primitive belief. Worshipping the relic rather than the Creator is, by Church doctrine, idolatry."
'Serve the Lord, yet bow not to the works of His hand.'
Every member of the Church knew that phrase, yet the elves in that village seemed not to care.
"Now we enter. If the Creator's relic doesn't bar our way, neither will they."
Saying so, Rael took the lead himself.
"All units, do not open fire without orders."
At Dandel's command, the troops lowered their muzzles. As the humans appeared one by one, the elves regarded them with wary eyes.
Or rather, they seemed to be watching Glaepnir's reaction.
"They won't stop us."
"The one in front is Rael, isn't it?"
"A guest?"
Tribesmen murmured as they cleared a path for the soldiers who approached.
Their eyes were wary, but Dandel let out a quiet sigh of relief that, fortunately, there was no attack.
"Second Lieutenant. Please tell Corporal Yaan to come out."
"If a human emerges from the Creator's relic, won't they treat us as enemies?"
"No. It will be the opposite."
Dandel studied Rael for a moment, but knowing nothing of the elves' domain, he chose to follow the other's words in silence.
"Corporal Yaan!"
After shouting toward Glaepnir, Dandel gave a hand signal. Seeing it, Glaepnir lowered its stance and knelt on one knee.
Its chest opened and Yaan, dressed in a black uniform, emerged from within.
"A human."
"The chosen one is human..."
"The guest is coming down!"
Watching Yaan descend slowly along Glaepnir's hand, the elves crowded toward him one by one.
Unaccustomed to the elves approaching, Yaan took several steps back, but at Rael's signal he sighed and relaxed his guard.